1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a music evaluation system comprising a WWW (World Wide Web) server for supplying HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) documents and WWW terminals such as PCs (Personal Computers) and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) for browsing the HTML documents and XML (Extensible Markup Language) documents, wherein the WWW server prompts the WWW terminals for the auditioning and evaluation of music pieces by use of HTML documents.
2. Description of Related Art
Today, with the recent great strides in telecommunication technologies, so-called Internet Web services are in widespread use where HTML documents and XML documents supplied by WWW servers are browsed at personal computers, mobile phones, and other WWW terminals by use of software programs called browsers. One of such Internet Web services is the auditioning and evaluation of music contents at WWW terminals. In this service, a Web site supplied by the WWW server has plural pieces of auditioning music (namely, music play data for reproducing a part of music) corresponding to respective pieces of music. Each WWW terminal downloads the play data from the WWW server and auditions desired music pieces, evaluates the auditioned music in accordance with evaluation points (for example, melody point, lyrics point, singing skill point, and playing skill point) prepared at the Web site, and transmits evaluation results to the WWW server.
However, in the above-mentioned music evaluation technique, each WWW terminal must mark all prepared evaluation items. The evaluation of all auditioned pieces of music is an extremely complicated procedure, so that many users come to score only the favorite pieces of music among those auditioned. Consequently, the WWW server may obtain evaluation of only a part of many pieces of music provided for auditioning.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a music evaluation apparatus, a music evaluation system and a storage medium, which can control music evaluation in two steps of simple evaluation and detailed evaluation in a stepwise manner.
According to the invention, a server apparatus is provided for conducting an evaluation of a music piece with an external terminal apparatus. In the apparatus, a communication unit Is used to exchange information with the external terminal apparatus. A first transmitting section transmits first prompt information to the external terminal apparatus through the communication unit, the first prompt information being effective to prompt a first evaluation of a music piece. A second transmitting section transmits inquiry information to the external terminal apparatus through the communication unit, the inquiry information inquiring whether or not to proceed with a second evaluation of the music piece. A receiving section receives request information from the external terminal apparatus in response to the inquiry information through the communication unit, the request information requesting the second evaluation. A third transmitting section transmits second prompt information to the external terminal apparatus in response to the request information through the communication unit, the second prompt information being effective to prompt the second evaluation of the music piece.
In a preferred form, the inventive server apparatus further comprises a database that stores a plurality of music pieces, and a data transmitting section that transmits data of a music piece selected from the database to the external terminal apparatus, so that the selected music piece can be auditioned at the external terminal apparatus for the evaluation. In such a case, the data transmitting section transmits first data of the selected music piece effective to perform a short auditioning of the selected music piece in the first evaluation, and transmits second data of the selected music piece effective to perform a long auditioning of the selected music piece for the second evaluation.
In a preferred form, the first transmitting section transmits the first prompt information effective to prompt the first evaluation for quickly evaluating the music piece, and the third transmitting section transmits the second prompt information effective to prompt the second evaluation for more thoroughly evaluating the music piece than the first evaluation. In such a case, the evaluation of the music piece is completed quickly by the first evaluation alone when the receiving section fails to receive the request information in response to the inquiry information.
Consequently, the novel constitution can increase the willingness of each user for music evaluation through the simple evaluation method to obtain the evaluation of all auditioned pieces of music and to obtain the detailed evaluation through the detailed evaluation method as well.